


With His Song

by BDEblueyes



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27667534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BDEblueyes/pseuds/BDEblueyes
Summary: Jou makes a fool of himself singing karaoke at their graduation party.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	With His Song

The school year was finally over, and what's more, it was their _final_ school year. Jou's head swirled with memories. For as full of adventure and intrigue as most of his school career had been, the past few months had been surprisingly uneventful, passing in a haze of school trips, exams, and ceremonies.

It would have been nice if they could have had one last summer together, but fate had decreed that was not to be and over the next two weeks each member of the Yuugitachi would be leaving Domino on their own adventure. All except Jou, who would spend the summer working a third job in addition to the two he already had.

Yuugi and Ryou had scored themselves places on a dig. Not in Egypt, which was where they both really wanted to be, but it was an opportunity that most 18 year olds didn't get. To be honest, it was an opportunity not many 18 year olds would want.

Honda's folks were sending him to visit some family friends in Australia, and he was talking about maybe extending his trip into a working holiday. Knowing him, he'd probably fall head over heels for some Aussie beach bunny and spend the rest of his life chasing after her like he'd done Miho for the last... however many years it had been.

Anzu had been accepted into a summer program run by some fancy dance company in the States.

Even Otogi had big plans outside of the city and, while he wouldn't be gone _all_ of the summer, he'd be gone for enough of it that it counted.

Part of Jou was jealous of his friends - and who wouldn't be? - but mostly he was happy for them. And proud of them. So very proud. They had all worked so hard to get to where they were, to earn the opportunities they'd been given.

Anzu would be the first to leave, her flight booked for just two days after their graduation. Otogi was next, heading for some sort of gaming conference in Sweden the next week, and Honda would be leaving a couple days after that. And then Yuugi and Ryou would go too, leaving Jou all alone for the summer, without even the prospect of a visit from his sister who was studying hard for some early placement exam or other. Still, they intended to make the most of the time they had left together and for tonight, their entire class was partying it up at the ridiculous labyrinthine construction that was Otogi's place.

There was so much going on tonight. Every room had a different theme, a different activity. People played games in some of the rooms, drinking games, and video games, and social games. In some of the rooms, people were just hanging out. Or making out, in Otogi's case. There was even a Duel Monsters room, where multiple low-tech games were happening at once. Some of their classmates had expressed surprise that the Yuugitachi weren't in that room but, truth be told, the spark of the game had gone out a little bit recently. Maybe it would come back at some point in the future. Jou really hoped it would. He missed duelling in general and he missed duelling with Yuugi in particular. And someone else, too, but he wouldn't dwell on that tonight.

Instead, the Yuugitachi, minus Otogi who was too busy sucking a multitude of faces, had ensconced themselves in the second living room, which was functioning as a karaoke lounge for the night. After the first rotation, Yuugi had suggested that they make a game of it, and they'd all been up for it. They had each written down a half-dozen challenges that could make the karaoke more entertaining and thrown them into a vase for a 'lucky draw' style game. They'd gone for a vase because only one person in the room had a hat available, it was greasy with hair gel, and none of them felt like trekking to the kitchen to get a bowl when there was a perfectly good vase just sitting on the shelf under the TV.

So far, Ryou had drawn "wear someone else's underwear" for his turn and sung _Like a Virgin_ while wearing Anzu's bra on his head because, he argued, it didn't specify _what_ underwear or how it should be worn. Honda had pulled "everyone takes a shot when you flub a word" and then chosen Blackalicious _Alphabet Aerobics_ , knowing full well that he would get most of it wrong once he got past 'F'. Now everyone was significantly less sober, except for Jou who had plenty of reason not to drink.

And now it was the blond's turn at the mic. He stepped up to the front of the room, stuck his hand into the vase, and drew "sing a song that makes you think of your crush". He sighed. That one was definitely one of Anzu's.

"I don't _have_ a crush," he protested. "I'm just going to have to draw again."

"I call bullshit," Honda yelled from somewhere to the back of the room where he was, once again, trying his luck with Miho. For old times' sake, Jou supposed. Maybe he'd even get somewhere tonight. Anything was possible.

Jou glared at him, but it had no effect.

"Yeah, sorry Jou, but I'm not buying it either," Yuugi said. "In any case, no take backsies, no do overs, and no substitutions."

"Even if it's not like a _crush_ crush, there's gotta be someone you like, or someone you think about fondly," said Anzu. "Or someone who revs your engine or whatever."

"Not necessarily," Ryou pointed out. "He could be asexual, you know. Or aromantic. Or both."

"He could be, but he's not," said Yuugi with the confidence of someone who knew more about his friends than he probably should.

"Seriously guys? I'm right here. And I'm not either of those things," Jou huffed. He caught Ryou's eye and hastily added, "but I think it's cool that there are people who are, and I think everyone should be free to be whoever they are and love or not love whoever they want."

The white-haired teen smiled back at him and shot him a double thumbs up.

"Oh my god, just forget the challenge and pick a freaking song already," Anzu groaned. Several people around the room joined in with shouts of "Yeah!" and "Get a move on!"

Jou rolled his eyes, scrolling through the song catalogue. _Actually_ , he thought as his eyes landed on one particular entry, _this one **does** make me think of someone..._ "Okay, I've got one that fits the challenge." He tapped the button and let the song cue up.

_Coin-operated boy  
Sitting on a shelf  
He is just a toy  
_

It was hardly a romantic song but he put his heart into it anyway. His voice was warm and mellow, inviting. He was actually a good singer and a surprisingly good dancer, too, making a decent effort at some burlesque moves to go with the song. 

So wrapped up was he in his own performance that he didn't even notice when Kaiba slipped into the back of the room. He didn't see the brunet's eyes land on him or the way they tracked every languid step and gyration.

_Coin-operated boy  
With a pretty coin-operated voice  
Saying that he loves me  
That he's thinking of me  
_

Jou let the song take him away. He wasn't in a room in Otogi's house. He wasn't even sure he was on Earth anymore. Then the music faded and he shook himself out of whatever fantasy world he'd been performing in.

"Nice pipes, mutt," Kaiba called with a trademark smirk. "Nice moves, too."

The blond blanched. "I - uh - you-" he stammered. "I gotta go." He pushed his way through the assembled teens.

"Christ, Kaiba," he heard Honda say. "Would it kill you to not be a dick for 5 fucking minutes?"

He kept going, stumbling down corridors looking for one of Otogi's dozen balconies to get some fresh air. He felt sick. His heart raced, his head swam, and he was soaked through with sweat. He'd never been drunk, but he imagined it felt a lot like this, and he really didn't enjoy it.

He gripped the railing of the balcony tightly, waiting for the dizziness and the nausea to pass. Below him, the lights of Domino City twinkled, a galaxy come to land. If he weren't so mortified, he might have thought it was beautiful. As it was, all he could think about was the heat in his cheeks and the sound of his blood pounding in his ears.

"You alright, Jou?" Yuugi asked, appearing out of nowhere as he so often did. He was practically a ninja, despite all his buckles and jewellery.

"Give me a minute," he replied.

They stared out at the glittering city in relative silence, aside from the thumping bass coming from somewhere inside - whichever room had been turned into the dancefloor for this shindig.

"Your song," the shorter teen began after a few minutes, "you were singing about Kaiba, weren't you?"

Jounouchi hung his head, feeling the burning in his cheeks intensify. "Was it that obvious?" he asked.

"I mean, I'm ridiculously observant and insanely good at working things out, so maybe my opinion isn't the best on this?"

"Just give it to me straight, Yuug'..."

Yuugi sighed. "I had my suspicions from the opening line, they were pretty strong by the third verse, but it was really your reaction to his comments that confirmed it."

Jou groaned pitifully.

"Seriously... _coin-operated boy?_ Kaiba's all about the money. _Made of plastic?_ He's not exactly known for being emotional. Hell, half the city think he's an android." He kept going for a while, analysing the lyrics of the song and drawing every comparison he could think of between it and their blue-eyed classmate. 

Jou flushed when Yuugi mentioned _rugged_ and _long-lasting._ "Think anyone else picked up on it?" the blond asked when the shorter teen was done with his rundown. He wished the earth would swallow him whole.

His friend reached out and patted him on the back. "I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe if you'd done your song before Honda, but everyone was already pretty far gone when you got up there."

"But you're not?" Jou asked.

Yuugi chuckled. "Nope, I'm not even tipsy. I've been drinking apple juice all night."

"Sneaky."

"What can I say? I don't like being caught off guard."

The blond nodded, and they spent a few more moments staring out at the city below them.

"Feeling any better?" Yuugi asked eventually.

"Not really," the taller teen replied. "I'm still completely humiliated."

"I know. But give it 15 minutes and someone else will make a tit of themselves. Everyone's probably already forgotten you even sang at all."

Jou laughed, a hollow, self-loathing kind of laugh. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Let's head back inside, hm?"

The blond teen nodded, and the two of them made their way back into the karaoke room just as Anzu was finishing up a particularly raunchy performance of _Toxic_ by Britney Spears that had more than a few of their classmates drooling.

"Who's next?" she asked as Jou found a spot at the back of the room where he could lean on the wall and hopefully not draw too much attention to himself.

"Kaiba!" someone shouted.

"Yeah!" Honda yelled. "Kaiba! Kaiba!"

Soon the room was reverberating as everyone but Jou joined in the chant.

"Fuck, fine," the CEO sighed, exasperated. "But I'm not doing any of your ridiculous challenges, and if anyone records this I will personally kill you in the most creative and painful way you can imagine."

"Whatever you say," Anzu replied, handing him the microphone.

He scrolled through the catalogue and cued up his song. As the first strains started to play, he locked eyes with Jounouchi, an intense pulse of electricity flowing across the room from sapphire to amber.

Jou thanked every god he could think of for the wall at his back. It was the only thing keeping him upright as the ferocity of Kaiba's gaze turned his knees to custard. His throat constricted as the brunet started to sing in a deep, husky voice that did strange and unspeakable things to Jou's nether regions.

_I would die for you_  
_I would die for you_  
_I've been dying just to feel you by my side_

And if the two of them hadn't been so busy devouring each other with their eyes, they would have seen Yuugi smirking and maybe heard the shorter teen breathing the words "fucking finally."

**Author's Note:**

> Jou's song is Coin-Operated Boy by The Dresden Dolls  
> Kaiba's song is #1 Crush by Garbage (although I did heavily consider Creep by Radiohead for him, too)
> 
> This fic was written in a couple of hours, not edited, not beta'd so please let me know if there are any mistakes.


End file.
